Page 101 of Ours
“I hate these stupid gowns.” Cory sat in the hospital bed, somehow feeling like he was wearing a dressandwas naked at the same time.
“I dunno. I kinda like that they’re open back,” Nic teased from his seat next to the bed.
“You would.” Cory laughed before looking at both Nic and Derek. “So… Can we talk a little before my mom gets here?”
“Yeah.” Derek moved from his perch against the hospital wall. “Let me start. I’m sorry, again. For everything. For the way this started, for taking advantage of you, for treating you the way I did. I know this doesn’t fix anything, and there’s a lot more we need to talk through, but for all of it—everything. I’m sorry.”
“Me too. I’m sorry for everything he just said, and… I’m sorry for pretending to not remember the night I showed up drunk at your place.” Nic stared at his lap. “I’m still … trying to figuresome stuff out, about myself, but that… That was really,reallyshitty of me.”
“It was. Thanks. There… There is a lot.” Cory gave a small if not sad smile to the both of them. “I don’t really know where to get started but … I’m glad we’re talking again.”
“I think there’s something you should know about Jackson, too,” Nic interjected. “About that night and the party. He’s responsible for the rumor about us.”
“What? What did he have to do with that?” Cory wasn’t seeing the connection.
“He was basically stalking us at the party. When he saw us sneaking off to the garage together, he told Steve where he could find us,” Nic clarified. “He figured that if he could cause enough of a problem for us, it might split us up.” Then, he added sadly, “He wasn’t wrong.”
“Seriously?” Cory was dejected. He had already stopped looking at Jackson through rose-tinted glasses, but finding out how duplicitous he really was still hurt. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. None of this is on you,” Derek stated. “He’s a piece of shit who left you alone in the forest last night. Fuck everything about that dude.”
“Guess you should let him know where his car is…” Nic trailed off, not wanting to deal with anything Jackson related.
“That was his car, wasn’t it?” Cory hadn’t thought about it earlier.
“It was literally the least he could do,” Derek muttered.
“So…” Cory wanted to continue this talk while they could, knowing that when his mother arrived, he’d lose all privacy while she fretted. “What about us?”
“What about us?” Derek took a seat in the other empty chair in the room. “Do you want there to be an ‘us’?”
“I don’t know,” Cory responded. “If there was an ‘us,’ would we be an actual ‘us’?”
“Could you guys speak English, maybe?” Nic interrupted. “Or even Spanish.”
“I don’t speak for Nic, Cory, but I’d still very much like for there to be … something between us.” Derek looked at Nic and then back at Cory. “For however much longer we have together this summer. Whether that’s as your dom or maybe something more would be up to you. Whatever it was, it would be real. Official. However you wanna put it.”
“And you?” Cory turned to Nic. He couldn’t deny that at the very least, he liked being on this end of things for once.
“I…” Nic looked for the words, not nearly as great at speaking as Derek, worried he’d sound dumb. “I … like you. I like what we have. Had. I don’t… I’m still figuring stuff out, but I want to do more of that. With you. The right way.”
Cory sat silently as he took in their words. It was exactly what he wanted. But did they mean it?
“There’s a lot that went wrong before. Alot. I can’t promise I won’t get mad or upset when we talk through some of it. And like we keep saying, there’s a lot to talk through. But … I missed you guys. I still want to dothiswith you both.” He turned to Nic. “I like you too.”
Nic blushed, and Derek coughed for attention.
“Yes, I likeyoutoo,” Cory added, before taunting, “So, you guys really missed me, huh?”
“Derek missed you so much he got himself a daddy to train him,” Nic informed him with a grin.
“Dude!” Derek squawked from his seat.
“What?! Who?! Carl?!” Cory immediately pressed for answers.
Answers that sadly would have to wait, as just then, his mom burst into the room. Followed by Stephanie. Followed by Nic’s parents and sisters. Derek half expected the football team to show up too. As Cory’s mother rushed toward him, Cory gaveDerek a look, ensuring that he would get all the details about this daddy from him later.
For now, Cory was just happy to betheirsagain.
